Lokal – a top Prague concept

 

 

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For me Lokal in Prague gets that balance between beer and food perfectly. It’s something that can often be a problem in the UK as we all know gastropubs simply aren’t pubs. They don’t work.

Lokal is a mini chain that dispenses beer from the famed tanks – with both the Pilsner and the dark (Cerny) version of unfiltered Kozel available in this format.

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And what on my visit to Prague this time was pretty unique was the option of having these beers in regular format or special creamy format (Mlika) serve where the glass is foamed to the hilt to give the beer a smooth full-on hopped-up creaminess that lasts throughout its life.

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But what was really the star (honestly) was the food – that went with the beers like a dream. Small starters such as cheese mixed with beer, pickled knackwurst and pickled Czech Camembert were priced at only around £2.30 and demanded to be ordered by the table-full and shared with indiscriminate abandon.

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The mains were also perfectly proportioned – just the right balance of filling but not putting you into that appalling comatose state that curtails things for the night. We’re talking roast beef with pickles, beef shin goulash at around £3.50 and sides of wondrous potato dumplings and cabbage salad with horseradish at £1.20.

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The concept is clearly going down well with the locals because it was a very tough ask getting a table – involving booking online and then confirming in person. But well worth the effort.